FIG. 43 shows a configuration of a conventional connector for connecting the memory card such as the SD card. The conventional connector comprises a cover shell 1000 made of a thin metal plate, a base member 1001 made of a resin molding, a slider 1002 made of a resin molding, a coil spring 1003 for pushing the slider 1002 forward, a plurality of contacts 1004, switching pieces 1005a and 1005b for sensing whether writing protection is switched on or off, a rod 1006 having a hook at an end thereof which is engaged with a heart cam groove 1007 formed on a side face of the slider 1002, and engaging members 1008 which are engaged with front ends on both sides of the base member 1001 for fixing the cover shell 1000 on the base member 1001.
In the conventional connector, the contacts 1004 are held on a rear wall of the base member 1001 by press-fitting thereto. The switching pieces 1005a and 1005b are held on a side wall of the base member 1001 by press-fitting thereto. The slider 1002, which is disposed freely movable along an inner surface of another side wall of the base member 1001, is moved backward against the pressing force of the coil spring 1003 corresponding to the insertion of the memory card. When the pressing force for pressing the memory card is released at a predetermined position where the contacts 1004 contact contacts of the memory card, the movement of the slider 1002 is locked by balancing the pressing force of the coil spring 1003 and the engagement of the hook of the rod 1006 with the heart cam groove 1007.
For detaching the memory card from the connector, the memory card is further pushed forward in the insertion direction thereof so that the engagement of the hook of the rod 1006 with the heart cam groove 1007 is released. After that, when the pressing force to the memory card is released, the slider 1002 with the memory card is pushed forward by the pressing force of the coil spring 1003 for pushing out the memory card from the connector.
Since the connector is required to be made thin and small so as to reduce a mounting space on a circuit substrate of an apparatus for processing the data memorized in the memory card, the shape of the base member 1001 becomes complex. Furthermore, the thickness of the bottom plate of the base member 1001, which is made of the resin molding, becomes thinner so that it will cause the deformation of the base member 1001 due to the warp of the bottom plate after molding the base member 1001. Still furthermore, the top shell 1000 is made of a thin metal plate, so that a housing of the connector made of a combination of the top shell 1000 and the base member 1001 has not necessarily sufficient mechanical strength. Thus, it will be troublesome to insert/withdraw the memory card.
Since the contacts 1004 are respectively press-fitted into the rear wall of the base member 1001, it is difficult to align the contacting portions of the contacts 1004 parallel and even with each other. Thus, it will be the cause of not only the occurrence of the miss-contacting between the I/O contacts of the memory card and the contacts 1004 but also the occurrence of the soldering error when the connector is mounted on the circuit substrate.